Leo Valdez and the House of Nyx

LEO

JUST TWO LEFT.

Come on, grumped Leo. He had to finish attaching all the diffusers (the ones Percy

called them machines; Gods, did he not know how to identify machines?)  before

Nike went wild and started destroying the world. Well the world technically meant

the coliseum, but...

First, for a great start, Leo left Percy alone at the 'rest wall' and raced to attach the

fourth 'machine' to the wire. He had intentionally planned to run, attach it, and run

back, before Percy could notice. But apparently Percy had to notice and run off.

Now, as Leo attached the fourth diffuser to the wire, Percy was on a black Pegasus,

facing Nike for war.

Leo was almost done with the fifth one when Annabeth saw him. He locked eyes

with her and sent a silent message. Annabeth seemed to understand, because she

nodded and turned towards the Battledudes. She cleared her throat and spoke, "Oh,

my, Goddess Nike! Percy is in absolutely no hurry to knock you off! Look, he

doesn't even want to. Cause he knows he's weaker."

Annabeth's tone was so confident, even Leo, who was indulged in his work, was

impressed.

Percy and Nike wore looks on their faces that made them look like identical

automatons.

Nike looked at Percy with distaste. She then nodded her head slightly. "Well, if he

has, good for him. He has finally come to his senses."

Good for him! Leo thought frantically, as he hurried on, attaching the wire.

"Look at his face, My Lady! He looks so unfortunate! I think you should let him

go, you know," Annabeth said, with an edged tone of sorryness.

Let him go, all right! Leo ran behind the wall next to Annabeth, trying not to be

seen. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Percy, having a... what, a sad face?

No, more like a pouty face. Or teary face. Naw, none of them covered it. It didn't

matter which face, because Leo found it awfully disgusting. It looked like he was

trying to cry and laugh at the same time. Leo made it a point to tell Percy about it

later, assuming they made it out of the coliseum before it went ka-boom! and wiped out half the area.

Leo had just started fixing the last diffuser, when Nike yelled, "NO!"

Her voice echoed throughout the stadium, maybe beyond. Not just that; the best

part was that the impact was so immense that it knocked Leo off the ground,

sending him a few feet back, into a wall. A delay in Leo's work. Naturally.

"I will NOT let him go! Remember, young demigod, he called for the fight!" Nike

yelled at Annabeth, who had somehow managed to keep her ground. Even Percy

was still on his horse. The pegasus probably jumped into the air when Nike caused

Earthquake #202.

Leo scrambled back to his last diffuser and continued desperately.

"Come on," Percy threw his hands up in despair. Leo took a quick break and

looked up to see what was happening outside. He peeked through a tiny crack in

the wall and saw Percy looking in his direction. He doubted Percy could see

through walls. It wasn't a Poseidon thing.

Then something went wrong. Leo noticed Nike glaring in his direction, too. 

Great. She hadn't noticed Leo run around fixing the diffusers, but she had to see now, when

he was almost done, didn't she? 

Leo cursed under his breath. Percy had to look in his direction, didn't he?

Nike then narrowed her eyes, aiming her staff at the wall in front of Leo. Too late,

Leo realized what was going on. He grabbed the last diffuser and ran to the left,

diving behind a wall just as Nike blasted the area where he was a moment ago.

On the bright side – Leo was three walls away from that spot, so he had only

scraped his knees and elbows from the dive. Plus, he had the last diffuser with him,

so the coliseum had not blown up yet. And Percy had Nike in the center of the

circle of diffusers he'd made.

"No!" Annabeth shrieked.

Nike hummed a few laughs, and said, "Well, he's gone now. Too bad. I thought he

was the best victor for my Laurel Wreath of Victory." She held up the sick wire

and made a sad face.

"No. no, no, no, he's not gone. He can't be." Percy murmured, staring at the

blasted wall.

"Oh, but he is!" Nike pouted.

"No, Leo, no," Annabeth whimpered.

Oh, yeah, baby! This is freaking cool! Leo was thinking of all possible cheering

phrases. Everyone thought he was dead. Which gave him more time to fix the last

diffuser. He then pulled out his whistle, called Festus, and set his hand to work.

Outside, Annabeth was trying all possible ways to convince Nike to get Leo back.

"Why did you do that?" she sreamed. "He was helping you! He impressed you!"

Nike shrugged. "He didn't serve the purpose."

"Didn't serve the purpose? You horrible maniac! You mean little –"

She called the Goddess some really mean names. Leo was angry. Didn't serve the

purpose, huh? I'll show you what my how to serve a purpose, he thought.

Leo was almost done, when Nike's voice boome, "ENOUGH!"

Leo was so shocked that the wiirng came off. He groaned in frustration and started

reattaching the wire. So much for that last diffuser.

"YOU DEMIGODS ARE ANNOYING!"She roared. "I AM GOING TO END

THIS NOW!"

Gimme a sec, Leo thought.

"I WILL END YOUR DAYS OF LIGHT!"

Yeah, sure, once we're gone, Leo wrapped the wire furiously.

"I AM GOING TO TEAR THE HEART OUT OF YOU MEDDLESOME HALFBLOODS!"

Almost done... Leo plugged in the last wire.

"Got it!" he exclaimed. He took out the remote from his tool belt and looked up.

Festus was sitting on the coliseum top, with absolute stealth, as if waiting for an

order.

Leo's dragon rocked.

He then took a deep breath, dusted his shirt, and stepped out into the arena. The

final show was yet to come.